In the Cabinet Office.
Wang Ao's calm voice echoed lightly.
Gao Gu and Chen Xun looked at each other, both a little surprised.
After a moment, Takagu spoke in a deep voice and asked.
"Your Majesty, Zhu Pi, is here. Eunuch Cheng personally conveyed the decree. The words are still in my ears. Could there be any lies?"
"Is it fake?"
Wang Ao almost laughed out of anger, snorted coldly, and his face suddenly darkened.
"I think the two cabinet elders have been in the cabinet for too long. They have been unable to tell clearly what they can do and what they cannot do!"
The atmosphere in the room suddenly became depressing. Chen Xun had a dark face and squinted his eyes without speaking.
Gao Gu's face became a little confused and he asked.
"What does this mean, Chief Assistant?"
Wang Ao snorted coldly and asked.
"You only blame me for uniting with the staff to suppress the cabinet this time, but I would like to ask, before today, didn't you recommend cabinet ministers to His Majesty? Did Your Majesty approve it?"
After the words fell, the two people opposite him were stunned, and then fell into deep thought.
Seeing this situation, Wang Ao also softened his expression slightly and said.
"Although I have been in the cabinet for only ten months, at that court meeting, His Majesty expressed his intention to promote the cabinet, and I also know it."
"You two said that the cabinet is very powerful and busy and needs to add ministers. Isn't your Majesty clear about this?"
"Previously, there were only two of you serving in the cabinet, and it was even busier than it is now. Why has His Majesty never allowed you two to supplement the memorials of cabinet ministers? Do you need me to tell you more about the reason?"
The series of rhetorical questions caused Chen Xun and Gao Gu to break out in thin cold sweat.
Especially Chen Xun, his eyebrows were tightly knitted together. It was obvious that he was very uneasy.
As a result, the two of them were no longer as confident as before. After pondering for a moment, Takagu tentatively said.
"What the chief minister means is that His Majesty is afraid of the cabinet?"
After finishing speaking, Gao Gu shook his head again and said.
"I'm afraid this is unlikely. The power to draft the cabinet and customize the cabinet ministers are all established and promoted by your majesty. Our proposal to add cabinet ministers is also based on the number of positions set by your majesty. How could it be..."
Before he finished speaking, Gao Gu looked up and saw that Wang Ao didn't answer, but just turned his gaze to Chen Xun, whose expression changed.
As a result, he had some vague understanding in his heart.
At this time, Wang Ao said.
"The establishment of the cabinet is outside the six ministries of the imperial court. Your Majesty gives the cabinet the power to vote to make the government affairs run more smoothly and to further control the external ministries of the imperial court."
"Your Majesty naturally needs to add more cabinet ministers, but it is not for us to decide who should be added."
"The weight of the cabinet is the key point of communication between the inner court and the outer court. If everyone in the cabinet comes from the same family, then the cabinet will lose the original intention of His Majesty's promotion. At that time, it will not matter whether the cabinet is present or not, so how can we talk about authority?"
Gao Gu pondered, and soon understood the meaning of Wang Ao's words.
After realizing it, he couldn't help but feel a sense of fear.
Looking back, they were indeed a bit too showy during these days.
Ever since His Majesty made it clear that he relied heavily on the cabinet at the court meeting, they had lost their initial sense of normalcy.
But they forgot one thing.
The fire cooks the oil, and under the blooming flowers, there are often hidden undercurrents that can destroy people.
Emperor Taizu abolished Zhongshu, dismissed the prime ministers, and placed the emperor directly in charge of the six ministries. The biggest drawback was the extreme contradiction between imperial power and ministerial power.
The emperor is the decision-maker, and the six ministries are the executors.
All the agencies between the two were abolished, leaving only the Department of Communications responsible for delivering memorials.
As a result, once there is a conflict between the two, it can easily evolve into a violent conflict.
Before His Majesty ascended the throne, the Zuo Shunmen incident was a typical example.
As Wang Ao said, His Majesty must have seen the shortcomings and increased the power of the cabinet.
In other words, the most important role of the cabinet is to communicate internally and externally, mediate the contradiction between imperial power and ministerial power, and become a buffer between the two.
This is the reason why the cabinet is composed of group assistants, unlike the six ministries, which are divided into chief seal officers and assistant second officers.
Once the cabinet becomes the possession of a certain person, it will inevitably become his capital to seize power.
This is not alarmist, this is what is happening!
Gao Gu took a deep breath and looked at Chen Xun with complicated eyes.
He finally understood why the emperor had been reluctant to let Chen Xunlai be the chief minister of the cabinet.
If not for anything else, it was precisely because of what Chen Xun had done these days that the emperor was already on guard.
No wonder, the two of them repeatedly requested to add ministers to the cabinet, but the emperor refused.
Wang Ao sneered and said in a deep voice.
"Do you understand?"
"You say that I am uniting with the officials to suppress the cabinet, but you don't know that it is you who are really harming the cabinet!"
Staring at Chen Xun, who had been silent, Wang Ao said coldly.
"Brother Dezun, Mr. Gaoge, not only do you two have no position to blame me for what happened today, but you also want to express your gratitude to me for entering the palace early. Otherwise, I'm afraid it would not be a matter of relinquishing your duties as mere Hanlin bachelors. Got it!"
Unlike Chen Xun, Gao Gu and others, Wang Ao had just been transferred back to the capital from Liaodong.
Although he does not have so many intricate relationships and connections in the capital, thanks to this, he is able to transcend these and look at the situation between North Korea and China from the perspective of a bystander.
He had sensed it from his first day in the cabinet.
Chen Xun, the second assistant, was too enthusiastic about improving the status of the cabinet in the court!
So much so that this kind of enthusiasm made Wang Ao feel a little restless.
So at the banquet that day, he almost without hesitation rejected Chen Xun's proposal to jointly sign the memorial.
But he didn't expect that Chen Xun's obsession with the cabinet's rising status in the government these days had completely blinded him.
They actually left him as the first assistant and had to perform the performance alone, even during the sutra banquet, so blatantly humiliating him.
Wang Ao didn't tell lies.
He has been in Liaodong for many years and has never seen any scenes.
It was just a mere snub, so why did he fight back so fiercely?
In fact, he couldn't even wait for half a day. After the Sutra banquet, he immediately went to the official department and then entered the palace without any delay.
It was really because he smelled a hint of danger from this matter.
Not that long ago.
The emperor had just been furious and reprimanded the censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate for taking personal revenge on the Ministry of Household Affairs for cutting the salary of peppercorns. Even the censor of Zuodu, one of the Seven Qings, was embarrassed because of this.
Now, before the salaries of those people have been fined, the Hanlin Academy has united together to openly exclude him as the chief minister.
It would be fine if Wang Ao did something that aroused criticism from scholars, but he just did not attach the memorials of Chen Xun, Gaogu and others.
Isn't it obvious that the two of them are seeking personal revenge and using public weapons for private use?
Wang Ao didn't care about their life or death.
However, if the emperor loses trust in the cabinet because of this, that will be the real trouble!
After all, the cabinet is not a serious government office. Its power comes from voting on behalf of the emperor.
Since it is a generation, the emperor can take it back at any time.
Having lost the trust of the emperor, it is not known how many years and months it will take for this newly formed cabinet to regain its strength.
After figuring out the joints, Takagu became anxious and spoke.
"Master Chief Assistant, now, your Majesty's side..."
